Grand Prix of Portland
Portland, OR - August 10, 2025
JOSEF NEWGARDEN No. 2 ASTEMO CHEVROLET
START: 15TH
FINISH: 24TH
POINTS: 18TH (-387)
RACE RUNDOWN: Josef Newgarden and the No. 2 Astemo Chevrolet team were in position to capture a top five finish in Sunday's Grand Prix of Portland before contact from the No. 9 of Scott Dixon left his Chevy briefly stalled on the frontstretch, resulting in a 24th-place finish. Newgarden transferred to the second round of qualifying on Saturday, finishing with the ninth quickest lap before a six-position grid penalty for an unapproved engine change saw him roll off the grid from the 15th position. Electing to start on the softer Firestone tire compound, Newgarden quickly moved into the top 10 as the race divided into two pit strategies. Like his Team Penske teammates, Newgarden and crew decided on the strategy that allowed them to push for the entire race without worrying about fuel. After running the softer Firestones for two consecutive stints, Newgarden has built enough of a cushion prior to making their mandatory pit stop for the harder tire that he was able to hold his track position coming into the final stint. After making his final pit stop on Lap 84, Newgarden blended onto the track and was immediately hit from the rear by Dixon in Turn 1, an incident that prompted INDYCAR SERIES officials to penalize Dixon for avoidable contact. After several attempts at restarting the Chevy using the hybrid system, Newgarden rejoined the field in the 24th position. With no other driver on his lap, the two-time NTT INDYCAR SERIES champion elected to not push the envelope and bring his Astemo machine home without further incident.
NEWGARDEN'S THOUGHTS: "Going from likely battling for a top five finish to finishing 24th is kind of emblematic of this year. I think it was pretty clear that the 9 car just ran all over me, and the avoidable contact penalty validated that. There should be no real confusion about that one. Better days are absolutely ahead of this team and they could come in these last two races. Milwaukee and Nashville are places we expect to run well and there is no reason we shouldn't."
SCOTT MCLAUGHLIN No. 3 ODYSSEY BATTERY CHEVROLET
START: 11TH
FINISH: 7TH
POINTS: 11TH (-341)
RACE RUNDOWN: Scott McLaughlin and the No. 3 Odyssey Battery Chevrolet team finished seventh in Sunday's Grand Prix of Portland, their seventh top 10 finish of the 2025 NTT INDYCAR SERIES season. In a tight qualifying session, McLaughlin nearly made it to the second round of qualifying before settling for 13th on the starting grid. A grid penalty for Josef Newgarden bumped him up to 12th at the green flag as he quickly set his sights on the top five. Restarting from the third position on Lap 21, McLaughlin kept pace with his closest competitors as he pushed his Odyssey Battery Chevy hard through two stints on the Firestone soft compound tire. As the two race strategies played out during his mandatory stint on the hard compound tire, McLaughlin lost a few positions during the cycle as the harder compound tire was not the preferred one on this day. Once back on the soft compound for the final stint of the day, the seven-time series winner again tracked down several competitors within his grasp to nearly come away with a top five finish.
MCLAUGHLIN'S THOUGHTS: "A huge congratulations to Will (Power) and the entire team. This year has been a bit of a slog, but as I've said we can see light at the end of the tunnel. The Odyssey Battery Chevy team is not happy - not content - with a seventh-place finish but that is two solid finishes in a row. Milwaukee is a great place for us to go next as we're on this wave of momentum, and we won there last year so we're going there with the mindset that we will do it again."
WILL POWER No. 12 VERIZON CHEVROLET
START: 4TH
FINISH: 1ST
POINTS: 6TH (-284)
RACE RUNDOWN: Sunday's Grand Prix of Portland turned into a quintessential Will Power victory as he dominated the field for most of the 110-lap event before holding off the No. 7 of Christian Lundgaard to score his first victory of 2025 and the 45th of his storied NTT INDYCAR SERIES (NICS) career. The all-time leader in INDYCAR SERIES pole positions, Power led the Team Penske qualifying effort on Saturday with a fourth place starting position. After electing to stay out under a Lap 15 caution period, Power assumed the lead for the first time as the race restarted on Lap 21. From that point forward, Power would only give up the lead during pit cycles, at one point holding a lead of 19 seconds over the field. In keeping with the theme that the softer Firestone compound was the preferred tire on the day, Power's lead was cut down while making his mandatory run on the harder compound tire. This brought Lundgaard and the No. 10 of Alex Palou to within a second of his Verizon Chevy, but Power was able to masterfully carve his way through lapped traffic to take the checkered flag. He paced the field for 78 laps on the day to get a win that solidifies his hold on the fourth position on the NICS all-time wins list.
POWER'S THOUGHTS: "I think it's just a big win for all the team, man. I mean, we've had a rough year, and it's not really because we've been off the pace. It's just been unfortunate circumstances. I've had two engine failures and a tire failure. It's a good hard-fought win. It kind of split that strategy at the beginning. We picked a strategy to run hard, pull enough of a gap and it was a bit dicey at the end there. Yeah man, just stoked for everyone on this Verizon Chevy team."
Following the last off weekend of the season, the NTT INDYCAR SERIES will make its second stop in the state of Wisconsin for the Snap-on Milwaukee Mile 250 on Sunday, August 24. The historic venue hosts the penultimate round of the championship with the season finale coming the following Sunday, August 31, at the Nashville Superspeedway.